#Ramapo College.

[pwrn51]

A passion for giving back to humanity

  Today’s guest is Claudia Wheeler a  United States Navy Veteran, an Elementary school teacher, founder of SALT Foundation, Inc., and a Russ Berrie Honoree which is from the Russ Berrie  Making a Difference Award. The Late Russell Berrie started the foundation in 1985 because  Russell had a passion for giving back to humanity! The Russ Berrie  Making a Difference Award has been recognizing…

[athleticperfection1]

Ramapo Soccer

[coochiequeens]

A transgender swimmer at a New Jersey college has ignited controversy after she broke a women’s school record last weekend after three years competing on the men’s team.

Meghan Cortez-Fields, a senior at Ramapo College of New Jersey, set the new record and took home first place in the 100-yard butterfly at a meet in Pennsylvania last Saturday.

Her time of 57.22 was 0.68 seconds faster than the previous record set in 2017, the school’s latest figures show.

Cortez-Fields, who hails from College Station, Texas, also won the 200-yard individual medley at the Cougar Splash hosted by Misericordia University.

The school initially celebrated her new record in a congratulatory Instagram post, but swiftly deleted it after critics started slamming Cortez-Fields’ win — specifically pointing to how she had only joined the women’s team this season.

Former collegiate swimmer-turned-activist, Riley Gaines, was among those to lead the outrage, posting on X that Cortez-Fields had gone from a “less than mediocre male swimmer to a record smasher competing against the women.”

“Those who choose to remain blind to the injustice of allowing mediocre male athletes to become record-breaking female athletes are either incompetent or misogynists. There is no in between anymore,” Gaines added in an interview with Fox News.

“The incident at Ramapo College shouldn’t be a shock to anyone considering we’ve seen virtually the same story time and time again with no people in leadership positions willing to take a stand for women.”

The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) also chimed in on X, accusing Cortez-Fields of having “erased a woman’s name from the record books.”

Ramapo College, however, defended Cortez-Fields, saying the school follows NCAA policies and that it “supports all of our student athletes.”

“There are strict measures that the NCAA makes trans athletes go through. You have to meet certain criteria to show that you are able to, as a trans athlete, compete with women,” a spokeswoman said.

“We are an affiliate member of the NCAA. We are in compliance. We have done everything the NCAA says needs to be done regarding trans athletes competing on the team. All of the steps were taken, and documentation was provided for approval of Meghan’s participation.”

The school said the original Instagram post was deleted by a student “who wanted to protect their teammate from insulting comments.”

“We remain concerned about the vitriol that we have seen on social media and the threats of violence against some college members. We are going to continue to post all of our team and individual athlete’s student achievements for all of our athletics programs, as we always do,” the spokeswoman added.

The backlash against Ramapo’s swimmer comes after the University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas ignited a firestorm last year after she started winning meets after competing for three years on the men’s squad.

[warmglowofsurvival]

"We then went to Ramapo College where the guys played a tiny rec room with no real stage or lighting. The guys all loaded their gear in."

[wilwheaton]

There’s also a parallel between the current treatment of migrant children and the treatment of freed people’s children following the Civil War, when courts deemed Black parents incompetent and assigned their children to work for white employers, essentially creating a legal class of disposable laborers who didn’t have access to basic education. “While the countries of origin have changed, the belief that some people are too foreign to be Americans has not,” said Cathy Moran Hajo, the director of the Jane Addams Papers Project at Ramapo College in New Jersey. (Addams was a prominent social worker and activist in turn-of-the-century Chicago, and many of the children she worked with and advocated for were immigrants.)

Child labor and tycoons paying Supreme Court justices: The 19th century is (unfortunately) making a comeback.

America is racist as fuck. It’s disgusting.

[yellowjacketsgayfanfic]

You and Shauna get into a fender bender, and she ends up leaving Jeff for you.

SUBMISSION: Shauna hits Reader's car, one thing leads to another and they start having an affair (basically the Adam situation in season 1) Reader falls in love with Shauna but is afraid to tell her because she knows she's married, Shauna leaves Jeff and gets together with Reader

In all honesty, you were definitely the one at fault for the accident. You had stopped short because there was an animal in the road. You had felt Shauna ram into you, of course, but your immediate first response was to run to the kitten trying to cross the intersection.

It looked dirty, so you removed your shirt and wrapped it around the little thing, lifting it safely into your arms.

Shauna got out of her car. "Hey! What the fuck!"

You turned around, cradling the poor thing, wondering where the nearest rescue shelter might be. "Hi!"

"You stopped short." She was exasperated, hands on her hips. "This is your fault!"

"I'm sorry." You smiled. "I would've run over this little guy, and I wanted to make sure that didn't happen."

Shauna eyed you, and then the kitten, and then you again. "Well. Now my car needs to go into the shop, so, I hope it was worth it."

You brought the cat a little closer to Shauna. "I'll pay for the damages, really. We don't even have to involve insurance. Just tell me how much it is, and I'll put the cash down."

She seemed bewildered by your honest to God kindness. "What is this? What is this... cute thing you've got going on here?"

You smiled. "Not trying to be cute, ma'am. I know it's my fault. How about we swap phone information?"

"Okay." She sighed, going back into her car to pull out a pen.

You walked over to her. "Write your number on my arm, and I'll tell you what mine is."

She eyed you for a moment, feeling immensely awkward about touching you while you were only in your sports bra. She wrote her phone number on your free forearm, and then she wrote yours on hers.

"I'm gonna go get this poor thing to a rescue shelter. Feel free to call me if there's anything you need though." You said.

"Okay... uh, hey, what's your name?"

You were walking away now, so you threw your head back, "Y/N."

***

When she did finally decide to call you up, it was very late on that same night. You told her to come over to your place, you'd give her a check for the cash she needed on the car, and she agreed.

She showed up on your doorstep wearing the same outfit as you had seen her in earlier in the day. You on the other hand, were already in your pajamas, sweat pants and a tight fitting white t-shirt with your alma mater on the chest, including the year you graduated.

When you opened the door for her, she found herself looking down to your shirt and her eyes widened. "Oh my."

You looked down and let out a laugh. "What? Not a big fan of Ramapo College?"

"No, no." She shook her head. "You're just... a baby. You're a baby."

You cocked your hip to the side. "Well, this baby is about to pay for the damages to your car, so come on in." You handed her the check she asked for, and she took it into her pocket.

"Want a drink?" You asked.

"You can legally buy alcohol?" She joked.

"Oh, very funny." You trotted into the kitchen. "What are you in the mood for?" You opened the cabinets to your very large collection of booze.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, Jesus."

"I'm a bar tender. I sneak bottles home sometimes." You shrugged. "And I never get caught."

"Okay. So you save animals by day, and you're a criminal by night." Shauna observed. "Good to know."

You rolled your eyes in response, grabbing the fixings for a vodka martini. "You're being kind of bitchy for someone who is getting their car fixed for free."

She paused, a little taken aback by your suddenly vulgar mouth, but she couldn't help but find it attractive.

You placed the bottles and mixers on your counter. Shauna watched you as created two drinks, shaking the booze between two metal cups vigorously. She watched as you poured the liquid into two chilled glasses. You were a real professional. Her eyes landed on your chest once more, not because she was trying to read it again, but because it was hugging your breasts tightly.

You slid Shauna's drink over to with a sly smile working its way to your lips. "My eyes are up here."

And she did look into your eyes, which were dark and brooding. You raised a brow at her, bending over the counter she was sitting at. "You've been staring at my tits the entire time you've been here... Shauna, right?"

She nodded, incapable of forming a response to your very forward words.

"Something you want to say to me?" You asked, sipping on your drink.

"I'm married." She spat out. "And I haven't been with a woman since college."

"Happily married?" You asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I think he's fucking another woman."

You chuckled. "They always are. I'm lucky I don't like men, that would really suck for me."

"How did you know you were gay?" She asked you with genuine curiosity, shyly looking up at you.

You took the seat next to her, your knees touching. "Well, I knew I liked girls by the time I was five. I knew I didn't like guys when I was fourteen and slept with a girl for the first time. I really love eating box."

You could tell Shauna was getting increasingly more flustered, which was your objective, by the way. She squeezed her legs together tightly, a hand reaching down to her thighs.

"Shauna?" You looked down at her now quivering legs. "If your husband is fucking a woman on the side, you're well within your right to do the same."

She let out a breathy little moan when you said that, and within seconds you were attached at the mouth. Her hands were under your shirt, which she'd been fantasizing about doing this entire time, and you were tugging her jacket off. By the time you left your drinks behind in the kitchen to make it into your bedroom, you were both completely naked, and you spent all night fucking each others brains out.

The sun was rising when you'd both had enough. She was looking down at you, thinking you were practically glistening in the gold light of the sun through your blinds. "How do I know if I'm gay, or if I just don't want to be with my husband anymore?"

You eyed her, opening your thighs wide. She followed her gaze to you, fighting the urge to play some more. "How do you feel when you see me versus your husband?"

"Like I want to never get out of this bed." She breathed.

You smiled, closing up shop again and lifting your arms behind your head. "Ever felt that way with uh, what's his name?"

"Jeff." She responded. "And no. Never."

You shrugged. "Maybe you're gay. Maybe you just married the wrong person. Who knows. What I do know," you rolled onto your eyes and pinched Shauna's nipple in between your pointer finger and thumb. "is that I would like to see you again."

She lifted your hand to her mouth, giving it a kiss. "I'd like that very much."

***

If you were honest, you thought you were just having some fun. You never expected to be so head over heels for a woman you were certain was unavailable. You didn't feel bad for the affair, of course, considering how terribly Shauna's husband made her feel and his inability to put her first. But you were scared that if you were perfectly honest with Shauna about your feelings, you'd be left heartbroken. This thought kept you awake at night oftentimes. You'd never felt this way about another woman before, and it killed you that the woman you wanted to spend the rest of your life with was very married with a grown child.

Then, one Saturday morning, there was a knock at your door. You were playing with the very same cat you had picked up that day that Shauna had rammed into you. You couldn't help yourself.

You weren't expecting anyone, but you nevertheless went to the door to see who it was. Behind it was Shauna who had her hands balled into fists and her chin held high.

You smiled at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I filed for divorce." She breathed out.

You looked at her with wide eyes, your jaw slacking. "You what?"

She walked into your apartment. "Listen, I need to be honest. I really like you, and you taught me what it means to actually feel attracted to someone and be happy with them. You could be doing anything, and I would be so happy just to be beside you. I didn't want to live another day not knowing that kind of love, and it's fine if you don't want anything serious with me, because now I'm free to find that-"

"Shauna." You mumbled, closing the door behind her. "You're really leaving, Jeff?"

"I'm really leaving, Jeff." She repeated.

You pursed your lips tightly. "For me?"

"If you want me."

Your bottom lip quivered. "I was so scared you wouldn't leave him, Shaun."

Not expecting the tears, Shauna still jumped into action and took you into your arms. "Hey, hey, don't cry."

You gripped onto her tightly. "I love you. I was so scared you would just leave me behind."

"You love me?" She mumbled into your hair.

"Yes." You cried. "Oh my God, I think my heart might explode with how much love for you I have."

She gripped you even tighter then. "I love you too."

[ausetkmt]

CeCe Moore, an actress and director-turned-genetic genealogist, stood behind a lectern at New Jersey’s Ramapo College in late July. Propelled onto the national stage by the popular PBS show “Finding Your Roots,” Moore was delivering the keynote address for the inaugural conference of forensic genetic genealogists at Ramapo, one of only two institutions of higher education in the U.S. that offer instruction in the field. It was a new era, Moore told the audience, a turning point for solving crime, and they were in on the ground floor. “We’ve created this tool that can accomplish so much,” she said.

Genealogists like Moore hunt for relatives and build family trees just as traditional genealogists do, but with a twist: They work with law enforcement agencies and use commercial DNA databases to search for people who can help them identify unknown human remains or perpetrators who left DNA at a crime scene.

The field exploded in 2018 after the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo as the notorious Golden State Killer, responsible for more than a dozen murders across California. DNA evidence collected from a 1980 double murder was analyzed and uploaded to a commercial database; a hit to a distant relative helped a genetic genealogist build an elaborate family tree that ultimately coalesced on DeAngelo. Since then, hundreds of cold cases have been solved using the technique. Moore, among the field’s biggest evangelists, boasts of having personally helped close more than 200 cases.

The practice is not without controversy. It involves combing through the genetic information of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in search of a perpetrator. And its practitioners operate without meaningful guardrails, save for “interim” guidance published by the Department of Justice in 2019.

The last five years have been like the “Wild West,” Moore acknowledged, but she was proud to be among the founding members of the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Accreditation Board, which is developing professional standards for practitioners. “With this incredibly powerful tool comes immense responsibility,” she solemnly told the audience. The practice relies on public trust to convince people not only to upload their private genetic information to commercial databases, but also to allow police to rifle through that information. If you’re doing something you wouldn’t want blasted on the front page of the New York Times, Moore said, you should probably rethink what you’re doing. “If we lose public trust, we will lose this tool.”

Despite those words of caution, Moore is one of several high-profile genetic genealogists who exploited a loophole in a commercial database called GEDmatch, allowing them to search the DNA of individuals who explicitly opted out of sharing their genetic information with police.

The loophole, which a source demonstrated for The Intercept, allows genealogists working with police to manipulate search fields within a DNA comparison tool to trick the system into showing opted-out profiles. In records of communications reviewed by The Intercept, Moore and two other forensic genetic genealogists discussed the loophole and how to trigger it. In a separate communication, one of the genealogists described hiding the fact that her organization had made an identification using an opted-out profile.

The communications are a disturbing example of how genetic genealogists and their law enforcement partners, in their zeal to close criminal cases, skirt privacy rules put in place by DNA database companies to protect their customers. How common these practices are remains unknown, in part because police and prosecutors have fought to keep details of genetic investigations from being turned over to criminal defendants. As commercial DNA databases grow, and the use of forensic genetic genealogy as a crime-fighting tool expands, experts say the genetic privacy of millions of Americans is in jeopardy.

Moore did not respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment.

“If we can’t trust these practitioners, we certainly cannot trust law enforcement.”

To Tiffany Roy, a DNA expert and lawyer, the fact that genetic genealogists have accessed private profiles — while simultaneously preaching about ethics — is troubling. “If we can’t trust these practitioners, we certainly cannot trust law enforcement,” she said. “These investigations have serious consequences; they involve people who have never been suspected of a crime.” At the very least, law enforcement actors should have a warrant to conduct a genetic genealogy search, she said. “Anything less is a serious violation of privacy.”

CeCe Moore appears as a guest on “Megyn Kelly Today” on Aug. 14, 2018.

Photo: Zach Pagano/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

The Wild West

Forensic genetic genealogy evolved from the direct-to-consumer DNA testing craze that took hold roughly a decade ago. Companies like 23andMe and Ancestry offered DNA analysis and a database where results could be uploaded and searched against millions of other profiles, offering consumers a powerful new tool to dig into their heritage through genetics.

It wasn’t long before entrepreneurial genealogists realized this information could also be used to solve criminal cases, especially those that had gone cold. While the arrest of the Golden State Killer captured national attention, it was not the first case solved by forensic genetic genealogy. Two weeks earlier, genetic genealogists Margaret Press and Colleen Fitzpatrick joined officials in Ohio to announce that “groundbreaking work” had allowed authorities to identify a young woman whose body was found by the side of a road back in 1981. Formerly known as “Buckskin Girl” for the handmade pullover she wore, Marcia King was given her name back through genetic genealogy. “Everyone said it couldn’t be done,” Press said.

The type of consumer DNA information used in forensic genetic genealogy is far different from that uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, a decades-old network administered by the FBI. The DNA entered in CODIS comes from individuals convicted of or arrested for serious crimes and is often referred to as “junk” DNA: short pieces of unique genetic code that don’t carry any individual health or trait information. “It’s not telling us how the person looks. It’s not telling us about their heritage or their phenotypic traits,” Roy said. “It’s a string of numbers, like a telephone number.”

In contrast, the DNA testing offered by direct-to-consumer companies is “as sensitive as it gets,” Roy said. “It tells you about your origins. It tells you about your relatives and your parentage, and it tells you about your disease propensity.” And it has serious reach: While CODIS searches the DNA of people already identified by the criminal justice system, the commercial databases have the potential to search through the DNA of everyone else.

Individuals can upload their test results to any number of databases; at present, there are five main commercial portals. Ancestry and 23andMe are the biggest players in the field, with databases containing roughly 23 million and 14 million profiles. Individuals must test with the companies to gain access to their databases; neither allow DNA results obtained from a different testing service. Both Ancestry and 23andMe forbid police, and the genetic genealogists who work with them, from accessing their data for crime-fighting purposes. “We do not allow law enforcement to use Ancestry’s service to investigate crimes or to identify human remains” absent a valid court order, Ancestry’s privacy policy notes. The two companies provide regular transparency reports documenting law enforcement requests for user information.

MyHeritage, home to some 7 million DNA profiles, similarly bars law enforcement searches, but it does allow individuals to upload DNA results obtained from other sources.

And then there are FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch, which grant police access but give users the choice of opting in or out. Both allow anyone to upload their DNA results and have upward of 1.8 million profiles. But neither company routinely publicizes the number of customers who have opted in, said Leah Larkin, a veteran genetic genealogist and privacy advocate from California. Larkin writes about issues in the field — including forensic genetic genealogy, which she does not practice — on her website the DNA Geek. Larkin estimates that roughly 700,000 GEDmatch profiles are opted in. She suspects that even more are opted in on FamilyTreeDNA; opting in is the default for the company’s U.S. customers and “it’s not obvious how to opt out.”

But even opting out of law enforcement searches doesn’t guarantee that a profile won’t be accessed: A loophole in GEDmatch offers users working with law enforcement agencies a back door to accessing protected profiles. A source showed The Intercept how to exploit the loophole; it was not an obvious weakness or one that could be triggered mistakenly. Rather, it was a back door that required experience with the platform’s various tools to open.

GEDmatch’s parent company, Verogen, did not respond to a request for comment.

Law enforcement officials leave the home of accused serial killer Joseph James DeAngelo in Citrus Heights, Calif., on April 24, 2018.

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

An Open Secret

In forensic genetic genealogy circles, the GEDmatch loophole had long been an open secret, sources told The Intercept, one that finally surfaced publicly during the Ramapo College conference in late July.

Roy, the DNA expert, was giving a presentation titled “In the Hot Seat,” a primer for genealogists on what to expect if called to testify in a criminal case. There was a clear and simple theme: “Do not lie,” Roy said. “The minute you’re caught in a lie is the minute that it’s going to be difficult for people to use your work.”

As part of the session, David Gurney, a professor of law and society at Ramapo and director of the college’s nascent Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, joined Roy for a mock questioning of Cairenn Binder, a genealogist who heads up the center’s certificate program.

Gurney, simulating direct examination, walked Binder through a series of friendly questions. Did she have access to DNA evidence or genetic code during her investigations? No, she replied. Could she see everyone who’d uploaded DNA to the databases? No, she said, only those who’d opted in to law enforcement searches.

Roy, playing the part of opposing counsel, was pointed in her cross-examination: Was Binder aware of the GEDmatch loophole? And had she used it? Yes, Binder said. “How many times?” Roy asked.

“A handful,” Binder replied. “Maybe up to a dozen.”

Binder’s answers quickly made their way into a private Facebook group for genetic genealogy enthusiasts, prompting a response from the DNA Doe Project, a volunteer-driven organization led by Press, one of the women who identified the Buckskin Girl. Before joining Ramapo College, Binder had worked for the DNA Doe Project.

In a statement posted to the Facebook group, Pam Lauritzen, the project’s communications director, said the loophole was an artifact of changes GEDmatch implemented in 2019, when it made opting out the default for all profiles. “While we knew that the intent of the change was to make opted-out users unavailable, some volunteers with the DNA Doe Project continued to use the reports that allowed access to profiles that were opted out,” she wrote. That use was neither “encouraged nor discouraged,” she continued. Still, she claimed the access was somehow “in compliance” with GEDmatch’s terms of service — which at the time promised that DNA uploaded for law enforcement purposes would only be matched with customers who’d opted in — and that the loophole was closed “years ago.”

It was a curious statement, particularly given that Press, the group’s co-founder, was among the genealogists who discussed the GEDmatch loophole in communications reviewed by The Intercept. In 2020, she described the DNA Doe Project using an opted-out profile to make an identification — and devising a way to keep that quiet.

Press referred The Intercept’s questions to the DNA Doe Project, which declined to comment.

In July 2020, GEDmatch was hacked, which resulted in all 1.45 million profiles then contained in the database to be briefly opted in to law enforcement matching; at the time, BuzzFeed News reported, just 280,000 profiles had opted in. GEDmatch was taken offline “until such time that we can be absolutely sure that user data is protected against potential attacks,” Verogen wrote on Facebook.

In the wake of the hack, a genetic genealogist named Joan Hanlon was asked by Verogen to beta test a new version of the site. According to records of a conversation reviewed by The Intercept, Press and Moore, the featured speaker at the Ramapo conference, discussed with Hanlon their tricks to access opted-out profiles and whether the new website had plugged all backdoor access. It hadn’t. It’s unclear if anyone told Verogen; as of this month, the back door was still open.

Hanlon did not respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment.

In January 2021, GEDmatch changed its terms of service to opt everyone in for searches involving unidentified human remains, making the back door irrelevant for genealogists who only worked on Doe cases, but not those working with authorities to identify perpetrators of violent crimes.

Undisclosed Methods

Exploitation of the GEDmatch loophole isn’t the only example of genetic genealogists and their law enforcement partners playing fast and loose with the rules.

Law enforcement officers have used genetic genealogy to solve crimes that aren’t eligible for genetic investigation per company terms of service and Justice Department guidelines, which say the practice should be reserved for violent crimes like rape and murder only when all other “reasonable” avenues of investigation have failed. In May, CNN reported on a U.S. marshal who used genetic genealogy to solve a decades-old prison break in Nebraska. There is no prison break exception to the eligibility rules, Larkin noted in a post on her website. “This case should never have used forensic genetic genealogy in the first place.”

“This case should never have used forensic genetic genealogy in the first place.”

A month later, Larkin wrote about another violation, this time in a California case. The FBI and the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team had identified the victim of a 1996 homicide using the MyHeritage database — an explicit violation of the company’s terms of service, which make clear that using the database for law enforcement purposes is “strictly prohibited” absent a court order.

“The case presents an example of ‘noble cause bias,’” Larkin wrote, “in which the investigators seem to feel that their objective is so worthy that they can break the rules in place to protect others.”

MyHeritage did not respond to a request for comment. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office referred questions to the Riverside district attorney’s office, which declined to comment on an ongoing investigation. The FBI also declined to comment.

Violations have even come from inside the DNA testing companies. Back in 2019, GEDmatch co-founder Curtis Rogers unilaterally made an exception to the terms of service, without notifying the site’s users, to allow police to search for someone suspected of assault in Utah. It was a tough call, Rogers told BuzzFeed News, but the case in question “was as close to a homicide as you can get.”

It appears that violations have also spread to Ancestry, which prohibits the use of its DNA data for law enforcement purposes unless the company is legally compelled to provide access. Genetic genealogists told The Intercept that they are aware of examples in which genealogists working with police have provided AncestryDNA testing kits to the possible relatives of suspects — what’s known as “target testing” — or asked customers for access to preexisting accounts as a way to unlock the off-limits data.

A spokesperson for Ancestry did not answer The Intercept’s questions about efforts to unlock DNA data for law enforcement purposes via a third party. Instead, in a statement, the company reiterated its commitment to maintaining the privacy of its users. “Protecting our customers’ privacy and being good stewards of their data is Ancestry’s highest priority,” it read. The company did not respond to follow-up questions.

As it turns out, the genetic genealogy work in the Golden State Killer case was also questionable: The break that led to DeAngelo came after genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter uploaded DNA from the double murder to MyHeritage, according to the Los Angeles Times. Rae-Venter told the Times that she didn’t notify the company about what she was doing but that her actions were approved by Steve Kramer, the FBI’s Los Angeles division counsel at the time. “In his opinion, law enforcement is entitled to go where the public goes,” Rae-Venter told the paper.

Just how prevalent these practices are may never fully be known, in part because police and prosecutors regularly seek to shield genetic investigations from being vetted in court. They argue that what they obtain from forensic genetic genealogy is merely a tip, like information provided by an informant, and is exempt from disclosure to criminal defendants.

That’s exactly what’s happening in Idaho, where Bryan Kohberger is awaiting trial for the 2022 murder of four university students. For months, the state failed to disclose that it had used forensic genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a suspect. A probable cause statement methodically laying out the evidence that led cops to his door conspicuously omitted any mention of genetic genealogy. Kohberger’s defense team has asked to see documents related to the genealogy work as it prepares for an October trial, but the state has refused, saying the defense has no right to any information about the genetic genealogy it used to crack the case.

Prosecutors said it was the FBI that did the genetic genealogy work, and few records were created in the process, leaving little to turn over. But the state also argued that it couldn’t turn over information because the family tree the FBI created was extensive — including “the names and personal information of … hundreds of innocent relatives” — and the privacy of those individuals needed to be maintained. According to the state, it shouldn’t even have to say which genetic database — or databases — it used.

Kohberger’s attorneys argue that the state’s position is preposterous and keeps them from ensuring that the work undertaken to find Kohberger was above board. “It would appear that the state is acknowledging that the companies are providing personal information to the state and that those companies and the government would suffer if the public were to realize it,” one of Kohberger’s attorneys wrote. “The statement by the government implies that the databases searched may be ones that law enforcement is specifically barred from, which explains why they do not want to disclose their methods.”

A hearing on the issue is scheduled for August 18.

An AncestryDNA user points to his family tree on Ancestry.com on June 24, 2016.

Photo: RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images

“A Search of All of Us”

Natalie Ram, a law professor at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law and an expert in genetic privacy, believes forensic genetic genealogy is a giant fishing expedition that fails the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment: that law enforcement searches be targeted and based on individualized suspicion. Finding a match to crime scene DNA by searching through millions of genetic profiles is the opposite of targeted. Forensic genetic genealogy, according to Ram, “is fundamentally a search of all of us every time they do it.”

While proponents of forensic genetic genealogy say the individuals they’re searching have willingly uploaded their genetic information and opted in to law enforcement access, Ram and others aren’t so sure that’s the case, even when practitioners adhere to terms of service. If the consent is truly informed and voluntary, “then I think that it would be ethical, lawful, permissible for law enforcement to use that DNA … to identify those individuals who did the volunteering,” Ram said. But that’s not who is being identified in these cases. Instead, it’s relatives — and sometimes very distant relatives. “Our genetic associations are involuntary. They’re profoundly involuntary. They’re involuntary in a way that almost nothing else is. And they’re also immutable,” she said. “I can estrange myself from my family and my siblings and deprive them of information about what I’m doing in my life. And yet their DNA is informative on me.”

Jennifer Lynch, general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, agrees. “We’re putting other people’s privacy on the line when we’re trying to upload our own genetic information,” she said. “You can’t consent for another person. And there’s just not an argument that you have consented for your genetic information to be in a database when it’s your brother who’s uploaded the information, or when it’s somebody you don’t even know who is related to you.”

To date, efforts to rein in the practice as a violation of the Fourth Amendment have presented some problems. A person whose arrest was built on a foundation of genetic genealogy, for example, might have been harmed by the genealogical fishing expedition but lack standing to bring a case; in the strictest sense, it wasn’t their DNA that was searched. In contrast, a third cousin whose DNA was used to identify a suspect could have standing to bring a suit, but they might be hard-pressed to prove they were harmed by the search.

If police are getting hits to suspects by violating companies’ terms of service — using databases that bar police searching — that “raises some serious Fourth Amendment questions” because no expectation of privacy has been waived, Ram said. Of course, ferreting out such violations would require that the information be disclosed in court, which isn’t happening.

At present, the only real regulators of the practice are the database owners: private companies that can change hands or terms of service with little notice. GEDmatch, which has at least once bent its terms to accommodate police, was started by two genealogy hobbyists and then sold to the biotech company Verogen, which in turn was acquired last winter by another biotech company, Qiagen. Experts like Ram and Lynch worry about the implications of so much sensitive information held in for-profit hands — and readily exploited by police. The “platforms right now are the most powerful regulators we have for most Americans,” Ram said. Police regulate “after a fashion, in a fashion, by what they do. They tell us what they’re willing to do by what they actually do,” she added. “But by the way, that’s like law enforcement making rules for itself, so not exactly a diverse group of stakeholders.”

For now, Ram said, the best way to regulate forensic genetic genealogy is by statute. In 2021, Maryland lawmakers passed a comprehensive law to restrain the practice. It requires police to obtain a warrant before conducting a genetic genealogy search — certifying that the case is an eligible violent felony and that all other reasonable avenues of investigation have failed — and notify the court before gathering DNA evidence to confirm the suspect identified via genetic genealogy is, in fact, the likely perpetrator. Currently, police use surreptitious methods to collect DNA without judicial oversight: mining a person’s garbage, for example, for items expected to contain biological evidence. In the Golden State Killer case, DeAngelo was implicated by DNA on a discarded tissue.

The Maryland law also requires police to obtain consent from any third party whose DNA might help solve a crime. In the Kohberger case, police searched his parents’ garbage, collecting trash with DNA on it that the lab believed belonged to Kohberger’s father. In a notorious Florida case, police lied to a suspect’s parents to get a DNA sample from the mother, telling her they were trying to identify a person found dead whom they believed was her relative. Those methods are barred under the Maryland law.

Montana and Utah have also passed laws governing forensic genetic genealogy, though neither is as strict as Maryland’s.

MyHeritage DNA kits are displayed at the RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City on Feb. 9, 2017.

Photo: George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Solving Crime Before It Happens

The rise of direct-to-consumer DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy raises another issue: the looming reality of a de facto national DNA database that can identify large swaths of the U.S. population, regardless of whether those individuals have uploaded their genetic information. In 2018, researchers led by the former chief science officer at MyHeritage predicted that a database of roughly 3 million people could identify nearly 100 percent of U.S. citizens of European descent. “Such a database scale is foreseeable for some third-party websites in the near future,” they concluded.

“All of a sudden, we have a national DNA database, and we didn’t ever have any kind of debate about whether we wanted that in our society.”

“All of a sudden, we have a national DNA database,” said Lynch, “and we didn’t ever have any kind of debate about whether we wanted that in our society.” A national database in “private hands,” she added.

By the time people started worrying about this as a policy issue, it was “too late,” Moore said during her address at the Ramapo conference. “By the time the vast majority of the public learned about genetic genealogy, we’d been quietly building this incredibly powerful tool for human identification behind the scenes,” she said. “People sort of laughed, like, ‘Oh, hobbyists … you do your genealogy, you do your adoption,’ and we were allowed to build this tool without interference.”

Moore advocated for involving forensic genetic genealogy earlier in the investigative process. Doing so, she argued, could focus police on guilty parties more quickly and save innocent people from needless law enforcement scrutiny. In fact, she told the audience, she believes that forensic genetic genealogy can help to eradicate crime. “We can stop criminals in their tracks,” she said. “I really believe we can stop serial killers from existing, stop serial rapists from existing.”

“We are an army. We can do this! So repeat after me,” Moore said, before leading the audience in a chant. “No more serial killers!”

Update: August 18, 2023, 3:55 p.m. ET

After this article was published, Margaret Press, founder of the DNA Doe Project, released a statement in response to The Intercept’s findings. Press acknowledged that between May 2019 and January 2021, the organization’s leadership and volunteers made use of GEDmatch tools that provided access to DNA profiles that were opted out of law enforcement searches, which she described as “a bug in the software.” Press stated:

We have always been committed to abide by the Terms of Service for the databases we used, and take our responsibility to our law enforcement and medical examiner partner agencies extremely seriously. In hindsight, it’s clear we failed to consider the critically important need for the public to be able to trust that their DNA data will only be shared and used with their permission and under the restrictions they choose. We should have reported these bugs to GEDmatch and stopped using the affected reports until the bugs were fixed. Instead, on that first day when we found that all of the profiles were set to opt-out, I discouraged our team from reporting them at all. I now know I was wrong and I regret my words and actions.

[lboogie1906]

Dr. James L. Conyers Jr. was born James (Jim/ Naazir) L. Brown Jr. (June 17, 1961 - January 25, 2021) author, philanthropist, scholar, mentor, and activist in Jersey City. He graduated from Ramapo College of New Jersey with a BA in Communication Arts. He joined the Zeta Nu Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He married Jacqueline Pierce (1985-2021). They had two children.

He obtained an MA in Africana Studies from the University of Albany, studied Kiswahili at Cornell University, and completed his Ph.D. in African American Studies at Temple University. He worked in the Oral History Institute at Columbia University. He began his teaching career at the University of Nebraska as an assistant professor of history, and he taught Black studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he was tenured and became a full professor. He began his career at the University of Houston as a full professor and director of the African American Studies Program.

He wrote or collaborated on over 40 books based on his research. Some of these texts include Africana Studies: A Disciplinary Quest for Both Theory and Method, (1997); Carter G. Woodson: An Historical Reader, (1999); Muhammad Ali in Africana Cultural Memory, (2001) and Black Cultures and Race Relations, (2002). He worked in archival research and oral history with the University of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast in Ghana (2003-06).

He was a member of the National Council of Black Studies and served on the National Board for 22 years. He served on the Board of Trustees for the Irving Louis Horowitz Foundation Social Policy at Rutgers University. He was a part of the Association of Black Sociologists, and the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH). He received numerous accolades and awards. He was committed to his community and his faith as a loyal member of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphaphialpha

[southjerseyweb]

All-WIAC Men's Tennis Selections Revealed - Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

-Fla.) Matthew Michibata, The College of New Jersey, Grad. Student, West Windsor, N.J. (West Windsor-Plainsboro South) Alejandro Pacheco, Ramapo …

[fremocpepoi]

My Shoulder Journey

This started in November of 2007, when I was a freshman in college. I swam for Ramapo College in their newly reformed NCAA Division 3 swim team as one of their main 3 distance swimmers. For about 4 weeks I was put on the shelf due to my left shoulder being inflammmed. It sucked, and I eventually went back to swimming like nothing happened. Fast forward to late August 2022, and I have an SR350…

[papershreddingeventsinfo]

Come along on a shred-tastic ride with us in 2024! 📆

🔥 We are excited to announce our upcoming paper shredding events, which offer an opportunity to tidy up and safeguard your privacy 🔐 . Saturday, October 12, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Ramapo College at 505 Ramapo Valley Road in Mahwah . Follow Us for more info 👉 @papershreddingeventsinfo Visit Website 👉 www.papershreddingevents.info/

[international-intelligence-inc]

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2009

UN NGO Confirms USA Using Secret Military tribunals At Ramapo Ridge Facility in Wykoff New Jersey To Curtail Freedom of Speech in AMerica

When I was seemingly imprisoned and held illegally at Ramapo Ridge Psychiatric Hospital in Wykoff NJ, I was not alone.

There were lots of college educated and other persons including retired college professors (young and old alike some even wearing diamond jewels in form of ring/necklaces they owned) also committed with me needing the facility’s ‘military tribunal’ and ‘defense attorneys (this is what my lawyers told me they were a defense attorney for my release), having absolutely no idea whatsoever why they were imprisoned in this NJ faclity having their human rights abused and freedoms limited right here in America and in Northern NJ.

Jill Starr

PS: Arnold Stark was there visiting me when I almost died of the medications they forced into my body and when my blood pressure dropped to low deadly levels.

Arnold Stark became very concerned for my life and health at that time being one of my only few visitors at Ramapo Ridge besides ArchBIshop John LoBue from the Holy Name Abbey in West Milford NJ. Strong Bill Clinton supporters.

POSTED BY JEAN FRANKEL TRIES TO MURDER ME OF IDEAS FOR ACTION LLC AT 12:34 PM NO COMMENTS: 

President Obama and the Geneva Convention (1949) Let's Talk About It...

United States :

I’ve heard arguments for and against closing GITMO in Cuba. However, I have not heard anyone discuss whereby America reconciles the following matter consisting of:

1) According to the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949, in particular Part IV (Termination of Captivity) Section 1 (Direct Repatriation and Accomodation in Neutral Countries, beginning in Article 109 through Section II (Release and Repatriation of Prisoners of War at the Close of Hostilities) “Prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of hostilities....;”

2) America clearly violates grossly rules governing treatment of detainees held at GITMO according to the Geneva convention (1949) i.e., enemy combatants (no matter how defined) being held by the detaining country (USA). and as such, President Obama ought close down GITMO facility if the United States of America is incapable of treating enemy combatants and prisoners of war as defined in the Geneva Convention according thereof. However, American citizenry ought know in the post 9/11 environment exactly President Obama’s plans are post closing of GITMO i.e., where they will be held and/or released to as so many presently debate in the American news media. However,

2) According to Article 118 Section II as aforementioned, in the situation with Al Qaeda, I argue “cessation of hostilities” between the United States and Al Qaeda cannot be said to have ceased. And,

3) Hence, shall they be released at all (?) I argue no for this reason.

4) This does not in any way diminish America’s international responsibility to treat all detainees in GITMO according to the Geneva convention. I suggest all American news media employees reporting the topic re-read the Geneva Convention and especially, the section about detainees entitlements while held by the detaining country which is America. Perhaps their entitlements will surprise you in manifesting the degree to which America has violated the basic rights of the detainees. More forthcoming.

Now I just wish President Obama would allow me to file a lawsuit against Ramapo Ridge Hospital in Wykoff NJ that used enhanced torture / interrogation methods against me recently.

I guess only members of Al Qaeda that were tortured by the USA in GITMO are allowed to file lawsuits against and file international press releases against the CIA, and, not American helpless female citizens like myself.

Jilly

LPCYUSA

POSTED BY JEAN FRANKEL TRIES TO MURDER ME OF IDEAS FOR ACTION LLC AT 12:21 PM NO COMMENTS: 

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[pettirosso1959]

In America la follia di genere degenera.

Megan Cortez-Philes ha stabilito un nuovo record nuotando i 100 metri farfalla in 57,22 secondi. Per una "studentessa" il risultato è impressionante, anche perché il record mondiale femminile è di 54,05 secondi.

C'è un piccolo problema, Megan è una ragazza solo nelle sue fantasie, come ben evidente in foto per altro.

Il nuotatore del Ramapo College nel New Jersey è un uomo che gareggia con le donne.

Prima di unirsi alla squadra femminile rendendosi ridicolo, aveva gareggiato per 3 stagioni nella squadra maschile.

R. Lorenzetti.

[dooxlenews]

Police Are Getting DNA Data From People Who Think They Opted Out

This post has been published on Dooxle news

CeCe Moore, an actress and director-turned-genetic genealogist, stood behind a lectern at New Jersey’s Ramapo College in late July. Propelled onto the national stage by the popular PBS show “Finding Your Roots,” Moore was delivering the keynote address for the inaugural conference of forensic genetic genealogists at Ramapo, one of only two institutions of higher education in the U.S. that offer instruction in the field. It was a new era, Moore told the audience, a turning point for solving crime, and they were in on the ground floor. “We’ve created this tool that can accomplish so much,” she said. Genealogists… Read more !

[drjamesfarleynj]

Dr. James Farley Offers a Personalized Treatment Approach to Get Your Life Back On Track

Dr. James Farley offers a personalized treatment approach that focuses on the underlying functional causes. If you want to get your life back on track with increased energy, a balanced immune system, better hormones, improved brain function, weight loss, blood stabilization, reduced risk of heart attack, improved bone density, and clear thinking, you and your concerns are the focus of his program.

Explaining the causes and consequences of gastrointestinal problems, he shares that the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which runs from the mouth to the anus, is impacted by gastrointestinal illness. Common GI issues include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), acid reflux, indigestion, colon cancer, and hemorrhoids. Digestion, which entails breaking down food so that the body can absorb and direct nutrients to keep you healthy, is the responsibility of the GI tract.

In an effort to solve the issue, he develops the Neurobiomedicine Functional Restoration Prescription Treatment Program, which aims to maintain health and wellness by promoting health and preventing disease, as well as by promoting and supporting the body's innate or inherent recuperative abilities.

Dr. James Farley believes that genetics only play a little part in his neuro biomedicine, even when patients have a family history. Furthermore, the drug-required chemical imbalance theory is unfounded. He assists his patients in creating a real healthcare strategy to reestablish regular function.

Pertaining to his education credentials, Dr. Farley earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Ramapo College of New Jersey in 1990 and was rewarded with his Bachelor of Health Sciences from Park University in 1991 (awarded 2016). He earned his Doctor of Chiropractic from New York Chiropractic College with honors in 1995. He then continued on to earn his Master of Science in Human Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport in 1996.

[beyondclouds-blog]

Who was Muriyd ‘Two Clouds’ Williams?

Muriyd Abdullah Muhammad Williams (also known as Niishwak Akumahkwak, translated as Two Clouds) was an Afro Native Muslim who was born in Newark, NJ and raised in East Orange. In most recent years he became known for his activism and teaching endeavors. As an enrolled member of NJ's Ramapough Lenape Indian tribe, he successfully fought large corporations, the Mahwah Police Department, and New Jersey state itself to (almost single-handedly) win back and/or stop the taking of dozens and dozens of acres of land which rightfully belong to the tribe.

An autodidact, Muriyd spoke more than a dozen languages, was a gifted artist and musician, and innate healer. Being of a multi-racial/ethnic/cultural/spiritual reality, he embraced his Islaamic, Munsee, and Haudenosaunee heritages, accepting them as one Truth sent from the One Creator of all. He was earning his BA at Ramapo College when he was murdered.

Learn more: beyond-clouds.org